News From Around The School

Year 7 Are Off To A Flying Start

Year 7 Advisor, Mr Andrew Wales has been delighted to see how quickly our Year 7 group has settled in.

‘I’ve been really impressed with what a bright, polite and friendly group of students we have. I enjoy catching up with them in roll call each morning and helping them navigate their first few weeks at Wee Waa High School. They are prompt to class and the expectations I set out on their first day have been well and truly embraced.’

‘With Wee Waa High being a mostly digital school, Mr Eaton and Jo Horne helped every student on day one set up their laptop and showed students which applications they would be using in class.’

‘They have quickly learnt to work with their timetable and find their way around the various classrooms they need to attend. Something else that has impressed our staff is Year 7’s respect for our school uniform. They are wearing it with pride and that’s great to see.’

A New School Counsellor For Students

This term we have welcomed a new school counsellor in Mr Corey Swan. Mr Swan has joined us from the Tweed River region and while living there he met quite a few people who had lived in the Narrabri Shire.

‘They all spoke so highly of the area and said what great and connected communities Narrabri and Wee Waa are. So when this role can up, I thought ‘why not’. It also gives me the opportunity to experience being a part of a small community. I’d always known how connected rural communities are and coming here has given me the opportunity to explore that for myself’ explained Mr Swan.

An avid sportsman, Mr Swan studied at Canberra University to become a PDHPE teacher. ‘I was drawn to specialise in this area because of how holistic PDHPE is, plus I had always had an interest in sociology’.

After finishing university, London was Mr Swan’s next stop for five years and while there he further explored and developed his interest in sociology.

‘There are so many pathways you can take in this area and that really appealed to me, as did the desire to help students live the best possible life’.

On returning to Australia to teach in Sydney, Mr Swan completed a post grad in Psychology part time. Then it was on to more post grad studies in order to become a school counsellor.

Since arriving in the Narrabri Shire, Mr Swan has wasted no time becoming involved in the greater community through playing in the weekly tennis comp and as the new coach for the Under 14s rugby team. Welcome Mr Swan.

Sports Report

By Andy Kiely - Sport Co-ordinator

The start of Term 1 has been a rollercoaster for sport! The easing of COVID-19 restrictions has allowed our regular Tuesday afternoon to return to normal with students participating in touch football, tennis, walking and swimming. The major attraction this term has been the utilisation of new volleyball nets and the new basketball court built over the holidays.

North West trials are underway with students attending for sports including touch football, netball, cricket and basketball with soccer, rugby league, netball, with lawn bowls coming up later this term.

A big congratulations goes out to Matilda Currey in Year 9 for her wide array of success in Cricket, Netball and Touch Football.

Our Open Boys Basketball team has kicked off the Wee Waa High School Knockout campaign with a gala day at Coonabarabran High School. Open boys and girls Soccer were due to face Narrabri High School later this term, however, they forfeited both games with our teams progressing to verse the winner of Lightning Ridge and Coonamble in Term 2.

The highlight of the term is sure to be the rescheduled swimming carnival due to take place on the 1st of April. This year promises to be the closest swimming carnival to date with Namoi looking to end Merah's winning streak.

100 Years Of P&C Federation

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the P&C federation, WWHS staff hosted a special morning tea to acknowledge the important contribution of the WWHS P&C. Just a notable achievements of the WWHS P&C include;

Supporting our Bushbots robotics team to compete in America
Coordinating our annual school formal
Purchase of IT equipment
Securing grants to purchase such resources as our cattle chute and weighing platform
Sponsoring our annual ‘All-Rounder’ achievement award

Pictured - WWHS P&C members; Kerry Crutcher, Jo Horne, Merrill Johnson, Kylie Thomas. Unable to make it were; Kathleen Coutts Smith and Lisa Currey

Alisha Conomos Awarded Lillian Hulbert Memorial Prize

Last week we were delighted that Alisha Conomos was named the 2022 Lillian Hulbert Memorial Prize winner.

Alisha graduated from WWHS in 2021 and was nominated for her charitable, sporting and academic achievements.

On accepting the award, Alisha thanked the six other entrants and encouraged them to participate again next year, noting that this was the third year she had nominated. With age comes greater achievements. Congratulations Alisha

Mr Vella's Classroom Economy

If being paid for attending maths class sounds like a great way of increasing attendance, what about being paid for each answer you contribute? This is why Mr Vella’s Classroom Economy is proving such a hit with his Year 7 and 8 classes. They accumulate ‘Vella dollars’ that they bank into their account each week and earn 2.5% interest on. Students watch their savings grow and at the end of term they will be able to purchase rewards such as movie tickets and milkshake coupons.

The BushBots Are Back!!!

We're thrilled to announce that our BushBots robotics team have emerged from Covid isolation and the FIRST International Robotics competition will once again be taking place this year.

Under the guidance and mentorship of Mr Steve Catt, Mrs Jo Horne and her husband Peter, science teacher Ms Caitlin Taylor, along with former BushBot team member and WWHS graduate, Michael Horne, the team is already underway with constructing their 2022 robot. The clock is ticking as they prepare for the first competition of the year at the WIN Entertainment Centre Wollongong late this week.

This year's team members include; Emily Wong, Brody Slee, Cailyn Coutts-Smith, Josie Galagher, Sara-Jane Horne, Mackenzie Jones.

The theme this year is 'Rapid React' and that's certainly what our team have had to do when they learnt just last week that with Covid restrictions lifting, they were able to attend the competition. It's been all hands on deck ever since building this years robot and inducting a new team.

Go well BushBots!!

COVID Intensive Learning and Support Program (CILSP)

At the end of 2020, the NSW Government initiated a program called the COVID Intensive Learning and Support Program (CILSP). The program is aimed at students who may have fallen behind in their literacy and Numeracy with the interruptions to their education since the pandemic started. Our school successfully applied for funding soon after the program was announced.

This intensive program is being delivered by Mr Andrew Wales. Mr Wales takes small groups of between 2-5 students for intensive learning session of 20-50 minutes at least 3 times a week. The sessions target numeracy and literacy for specific student’s needs and runs for between 10-20 weeks. This year, initially the program is concentrating on Year 7 in Term1 and in the early part of Term 2.

Mr Wales said he is really pleased to see the progress students are able to make with assistance from this program. ‘Every student’s learning experience during Covid has been different and this program is helping to students to regain ground’.